Skip to main content

Plot Elements (Disney Alert)

-Brynbellion-



Plot elements are what makes a story a story. Romance, betrayal, impossible odds, to name a few. In this post I'm going to look at classic plot elements, discuss them, and put a spin on them.

Classic Disney Princess Plot Elements:
Romance
Rebellion
Magic
Good vs Evil
Unhealthy Social Systems

Remember that Disney Princess movies are, for the most part, based off of some of the first fairy tales. So these elements are in both pop culture and writing history.

Romance
Romance is timeless. It's relatable, desirable, and adorable (it's a matter of perspective, okay?). Romance is somewhat overused, yet is not cliche. It's a good way of endearing your characters to readers and pulling these readers into the story (aka shipping). To surprise your audience, pull a cliche-breaker. The girl can end up with the sidekick or the comic relief character. Your protagonist could have a hard time choosing a girl, given the inevitable fawning crowd.

Rebellion
This is a good element that gets a story going, it provides conflict. It gives the protagonist a goal. Readers love rebellion. Everyone loves a rebel. Is this plot element overused? Yes, probably. To spin it, the protagonist could be trying to stop a rebelling society, or when the rebellion gets going there merely aren't enough followers [insert plot twist].

Magic
Magic entrances characters and readers. It's necessary in a large portion of fantasy. There is a huge amount of variation, nearly cliche proofing it. However, why is it the protagonist and mentor that gets all the magic? What if the protagonist enlists his sidekick because the sidekick DOES have magic? Perhaps the mentor lost his/her magic and teaches by memory? Endless variety means endless cliche-benders.

Good vs Evil
Good vs Evil is classic, morally good, and sound. Playing with characters that are grey toned is risky. However, characters like Megara from Hercules can be interesting to play with. Good intentions? Bad choices? Vice versa? While making sure to be clear that your character, though flawed, is good or bad, conflict can be twisted many different ways.

Unhealthy Social Systems
Examples of this are the extreme honor culture in Mulan, the close-minded village in Beauty and the Beast, or the mermaids’ extreme fear of humans in The Little Mermaid. Unhealthy social systems are effective yet common. Often protagonists are outcasts, or considered different in some way. This does make them relatable, but is also overused. A spin would be to provide a supportive community for the protagonist that unexpectedly betrays them.

That's a wrap! I hope you enjoyed this.
-Brynbellion





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If You're Like Most People...

If you're like most people, you probably don't hate that phrase as much as I do. This is mainly because I overthink things. It's something I do a lot and you will therefore be seeing a lot of it in my contributions to this blog. Actually, come to think of it, overthinking is something pretty much all of us have in common in the Writing Mafia, so you can just expect it all the time from all of us. You're welcome.  Anyway, back to 'If you're like most people...'. This phrase wouldn't bother me if people actually meant it. But they don't. They don't mean 'If you're like most people...', they mean, 'If you're like most people who are like me... ' Because let me tell you something, most people - as in, the majority of the human population of the planet - are living either under the poverty line or hovering dangerously close to it, have minimal education and don't understand this rant or anyone who says that most hate...
Post a Comment
Read more

Originality in Writing is Over-Rated

People are stupid. Really, really stupid. And this isn't me pretending to be Khepri or Mina, looking down in disdain on all the poor, ignorant peasants around me (you'll get that reference later) - I am 100% including myself in 'people' here. And this isn't to say that people aren't wonderful creations of God, beautiful, unique, brilliant and individually filled with huge potential. I believe every one of those things is true, but we are also stupid. For example, I once lit a match in church, during the service. Why? Because it was there, obviously. What else was I supposed to do with a match? Don't worry, I didn't burn down the building or anything, it was just an incredibly dumb move. And it wasn't all that long ago, either. (More than a year, but definitely while I was a teenager, not a young child.) But doing dumb things isn't the only way in which humans prove that we're idiots. We also forget important lessons, and this is the t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Plot: Wing It or Plan Every Step?

In the first idea that I had for the novel I am currently writing - which, admittedly, was when I was twelve - the only things I knew about my MC's personality were that she was a girl and she was 'feisty'. And evidently, I thought that was enough to go on. Surprise, surprise: It wasn't. Now, she is only the most main of my three main characters, rather than the only one. Her name is Taika and I love her. While she is most definitely 'feisty', she has so much more to her than that now. It's interesting to contrast this to when she first burst into my brain and refused to leave me alone. She was unrealistic, extremely two-dimensional and quickly gave up her spunk to become bland and forgettable. Needless to say, I didn't know her particularly well before I began writing with her. I guess I either thought she was fine how she was or that her well thought through character arc would just sort of come as I wrote. Given the fact that I am curre...
Post a Comment
Read more